A day late, an apple short

Acts 8:26-40 + John 15:1-8

     Somewhere between 5 am when I first stirred and 5:10 when I actually started to roll out of bed I had a short dream. In my dream a movie was showing and the scene was an intense close up of a contorted face (which actually looked a bit scary). I was viewing this along with a director friend who in the dream looked a lot like Dick Van Dyke. Dick's response to watching this film unfold was a panicked critique, a motion to an imaginary cameraman to pan out! not so much of a close up! It looked terrifying in a way. What a way to wake up with this fresh on my mind.

     And as I sit with coffee brewing I am thinking about this. I wish I'd had this dream yesterday instead of today, perhaps my writing yesterday might not be what I recall as more of a diatribe that a reflection on being a holier, better person. But what a dream, eh?

     I was thinking of yesterdays readings now and about that vine and branches. The vine, that main trunk is what caught my attention. It can be viewed by us as so many things. Us as individuals, as a people, as a religion and someday no doubt as humans in a universe with other creations beckoning us. So the question is, do we accept ourselves as a branch or do see ourselves as the main vine?  None of us are the main vine, only God is that main vine. We are the branches however you view it personally or otherwise. When we do put ourselves as the main vine, it gives a very contorted , ugly and unrealistic view of things like in my dream. We are branches that require pruning and loving if we are to produce a bountiful and beautiful yield.

        A Roman Priest I know had occasion to give a homily that I recall to this day. It really was a bit snooty and arrogant when I think about it. The congregation applauded. In due course he went through a litany of religions and when they had been created. Methodism, 1868; Latter Day Saints, 1830; Lutheranism, 1517 and so on until he came to the trunk as Roman Catholicism: 33 AD.  Isn't that rude?  Is that the beginning of God's revelations to man? What of Islam, Judaism and quite a few other religions wherein God attempts to reveal to us Her mighty love for us. It really is the arrogance of thinking ' I am the vine'.  It is isolationist, elitist and really, to my mind, heretical.

         The other reading today is about an Ethiopian eunuch who is baptized as a Christian.  I am accustomed to stories of Jesus welcoming and embracing the outcasts of society for his time, women, tax collectors, prostitutes, gay Centurion. Now we have a a black eunuch. Wow! What a revelation! How cool!  To all those that think male and female is it, that that construct is the 'vine' of creation, perhaps guess again. Look around, God has created a multitude of examples in creation to show us otherwise. What more do we want?  We should love and appreciate it all, we are all branches, all worthy of blossoming and producing fruit. How beautiful.

          Not only are we called to know that we are not the main vine, we are a branch among many branches. Can we see, appreciate and love that we are all branches hopefully producing a fruit that God created especially in us as individuals?  What a magnificent garden God created indeed. I hope we do not think we are 'the Apple' lest we repeat our sin.

Our faith calls us to act

Hebrews 12:1-2

     Sometimes I think we are in an astrological age that is defined by groups of apposing demonstrators, perhaps we can call it 'ragious major'. There seems to be no limit on who will demonstrate and for what cause.  There is great value in this. I myself have been found on the steps of our capital marching to chants orchestrated with bull horns  and whatever message punctuated by 'got to go!' In essence, whoever is marching, whatever chanting or screaming, they are witnesses to their cause. It is a very human activity. We are relational beings. Hopefully, not like a pack of wolves. Sadly we see events like Charlottesville where good faces evil in spite of what anyone says. Evil is evil and cannot be redefined as "some good people' on both sides.

     As these haters proclaim their superiority and that they wish to reclaim a so called 'christian nation', their very actions speak to the exact opposite of intentions and  beliefs. What is the difference between opposing sides? Is it a matter of opinion?  Actions that perpetuate and give witness to God's love are not subjective. You cannot say something like ' I loved him so I killed him'. That makes no sense, it bears no witness to truth, love, life or God. When you disrespect others, claim more love for oneself than God has for another, you negate any message other than evil.

       Still, our beliefs give rise to actions. Our appreciation and acknowledgement of our gifts call us to action. But these are never actions of hate and violence. God created us in love, Jesus called us to love, and Jesus died at the hands of a mob mentality that he freely submitted to for His love of us.

       When I see the machinations of groups like the KKK and the Westboro Baptist church or what might be called 'new wave republicans', I see evil that we are called to counter. We are called to show love with equal zeal and with informing and powerful love. We must never be complacent. We must never forget the evil that lurks and exists. 

       If we do not stand up for truth and love, we might as well be sitting in a lounge chair on the side of evil.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Good fruit

Matthew 7:13-21

     In the not too distant past there was a litmus test for conservative and Christian candidates. I am sure it is still employed to some degree. You have to be pro-life. That stance referred to your unwavering opposition to abortion. It was as if the judgment of whether you are a good christian or not was based on that alone. There seemed to be few other hallmarks.

       What does make a good Christan? I remember a time in those hippy dippy 60's when people were heard singing "They will know we are Christians by our love". What has happened?  If today's passage from Matthew is true at all, we should be known and judged by our actions and by the good fruit that our actions bear.

      Which brings to mind how the Evangelical Christian community has so embraced an individual who, by almost any standard, is a truly horrible person. Commandments are broken at will, lies spew out constantly. It is beyond alarming. It's as if the Kraken has been released. There is a wholesale attack on 'the least of these'.  A Jesuit Priest was forced to resign his position by a "Good Catholic" because he was preaching about the poor on Capital Hill. We are striving to create poverty among the masses with wild policies that engorge the rich. We deny logic and science with policies that threaten the lifeboat called Earth that we need to survive on. And make no mistake, God did not wish us to just survive, we were meant to thrive. All policies seem to be aimed at following an anti-Christian message.  Me thinks the fruit is rotten here.

     If we are to be called pro-life, it must be that we are in support of the totality of life, from birth to death and it cannot be limited to those we judge worthy or from just within our borders. God has no borders. On this issue and many more, the political right and evangelicals have not even hit the target.

      Aside from the fact that the political right and evangelical community has now lost any moral high ground. They really never had it, it's just that now the cards are face up on the table for everyone to see. Aside from that, this passage highlights something for us. That is, everyone with a brain, everyone who truly tries to follow the teachings of Christ in their daily lives. We need to be strong at home and in our lives as individuals. We cannot rest on our laurels that someone else is can be trusted to do the right thing. We must awaken loud, proud and ravenous for righteousness.

    I recall Emil Litella who famously argued for more 'violins on TV' only to be told that it was really "violence" on TV that was being railed against, to which she responded, "Never mind".

I think we should be trying to reach for more Violins in the world. The beautiful sound of God orchestrating and making love in the world with our acts of selflessness and behaving like Jesus. How beautiful the world would be if we acted like the beautiful creatures that God created us to be.

       Bear good fruit.

‘Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.

‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Empty handed

Exodus 34:20b

       No one shall appear before me empty-handed.

   
     Yesterday I noted that we all have inputs and influences in ( on?) our lives. I then added, that such graces may not make us who we are as much as they are graces to help us discover who we are.  Our true selves, the vision God holds from the moment our existence was conceived in her mind. 

     The line from Exodus that jumped out at me today is similar to what I wrote yesterday, it can be viewed two ways. On the first take you can correctly say that we should never appear before God without a gift, at the very least, appreciation and thanks. In some churches, you can dispense with the thanks and appreciation as long as your tithe ( 10% of income ) is presented as a gift 'to God' in the basket.  But I digress. Again.  The other way to view this line from Exodus is that none of us are left without the gifts and graces of God. No one is empty handed because we are all graced with all the types of things I mentioned yesterday. Influences, graces, experiences. We are so graced in our lives with people and things. Again, no one is empty handed.  I guess it is totally fitting that we return to God no less than what God has given us. A theological paying it forward if you will. God graces us and so we gift back to God. And we know that by caring for "the least of these little ones" we are saying thank you and loving God.  All our brothers and sisters, the planet, are all "the least of these little ones".

        When I find a common thread in scripture or prayer, I think it is God tapping me on the shoulder for me to make note of something important or that I am being asked to do something.  Sometimes like St. Francis I do a bit of spinning before I ascertain what it is I am to do. But then I do it.

       One thing I know right now, I feel the need to assess and take stock of my gifts, graces and talents.  I suppose I could, as an exercise, physically write them down. Sounds like a good journal entry. It also is a fine prayer to keep thinking about all the stuff God has graced us with. A prelude to what God really wants me to do but also a fine method of appreciation and saying thank you to God.

       No one is empty handed.

Twirling with Francis

          My spirituality certainly has interesting foundations. Like my mother's recipe for peanut butter dip, it is at once welcoming with peanut butter but filled with some rather interesting and perhaps exotic ingredients to either scare you away or delight your palate. My spirituality has it's roots firmly planted in Dominican nuns and Priests who guided my journey through a great portion of my life. Then there were other Orders of nuns of course, you cannot escape such variety with twenty years of religious training under your sash. Vincentians and Jesuits played their part in my formation as well. Then I fell in with some Franciscans.  Again using an analogy of my mother, if Franciscans can be likened to a new friend I brought home, my mom would probably be both thrilled and scared. Yet I recently discovered that it was my maternal grandmother, that I never had the pleasure to meet, that was a third order Franciscan herself.  

     I read a snippet about St. Francis that noted that he twirls around like a top at a crossroads to discern which way God wants him to go, and then sets off with utter confidence in the direction where he finally lands. That sounds like my kind of guy! When my husband and I were honeymooning in France, we had the relative misfortune of having our phone die. It was what we were using to guide us via Google maps. In a much simpler world and a much simpler time, as a child we would easily take off on bikes or in cars with little more than an inspiration of adventure, maybe a map in hand. We were virtually carefree. My husband and I found ourselves in a similar situation. We knew where we were headed but with little more than a generic map. We would barrel along magnificently beautiful French country roads and then come to a roundabout. We quickly decided that our strategy would be to circle as many times as needed until we came to a consensus as to which way was correct. Then we would go merrily along another beautiful road until we came to the next roundabout where we would again begin to circle.  It was a hoot and a half and our two hour journey by some main motorway took us over 4 and a half hours but we had fun and it was an adventure. What a great analogy of life and how utterly Franciscan!

         Yesterday at work, someone asked why I was wearing a ring on my left index finger. They obviously felt comfortable enough to ask me but I suspect they would never have asked the same question of a woman.  When I express myself, what my spirituality is and who I am, I draw on so many influences and another of course is that I am gay. How wonderful it is to be gay. For reasons that might be better off as the basis of a thesis, the gay community has incredible freedom to not follow all the rules. We are gender benders, we make our own rules, we wear rings all over the place!  In many instances we crush the status quo and norms that the straight community tries to enforce to make themselves feel at ease. Of course this includes some personal interpretation on my part but I think you'll get the idea.  The ability to be free with our own expression is a gift of being gay that many people do not understand.

           Where do all these analogies and interpretations leave us? What message would I relay on this fine foggy morning as I look out over the waters?  The same message I have pondered my entire life. What makes two people different. Whether it is twins, siblings or two people with apparently the same influences on their life. One of course is the realization that there are myriad influences into our lives. We are graced with people, experiences and physical prowess or perhaps physical challenges. Everything is in the mix to make us who we are. More than that actually, everything in the mix is there, offered to us to help us figure out who we are.  The other point is that we should never limit ourselves because God has given us no limits, only other men give us limits. In fact, if you just caught that, it is quite often in embracing our femininity that we can find greater depths of who we are.

    So no matter what you need, feel you need or how much twirling at the crossroads is necessary, go for it. Keep your eyes and heart focused on God but know that God has your back.

Sex in Scripture

     I would often note on these pages that one of the issues of religions, religious zealots or cults is that they cherry pick holy scripture and use spurious translations to support their own agenda. A notable translation faux pas was the demonization of Mary Magdalene as a harlot, a prostitute. Whether by honest error or not, this glaring misrepresentation supported a  male dominated, euro centric vision of most of Christianity. Thank God Mary Magdalene is getting her justice from renewed interest in Biblical Scholarship. Mary may get her due as perhaps more than just a follower but more of a true disciple, dare I say Apostle?

      What other mis-translations or white washing has occurred?  I've already discussed the word "pais" in previous blog entries. It is pretty clear that the word pais was was not a slave or servant  that Jesus cured but the same sex junior lover of the Roman Centurion that had specifically sought out that itinerant Jewish preacher ( our Savior Jesus ) to cure his sick lover. This mistranslation as perpetrated by major faiths only served to demean and dismiss, an agenda against same sex relationships. Not a one night stand mind you but clearly a loving committed relationship.

         Speaking of loving committed relationships, have you read the story of Jonathan and David in the Old Testament?  It seems pretty steamy to me.  Take a gander, Google it. You'll be amazed why it is not held up as a simple example of a real loving relationship.

         When you have done that, move on to Sodom and Gomorrah. That piece of scripture that allegedly supports condemnation of homosexuality is actually a story of attempted same sex rape of two Angels by those unwelcoming townsfolk.  In fact, Lot saved the Angels by handing over his own daughters to the townsmen for rape. Is this crazy? How is it that male rape gets equated with anti-homosexuality while the rape of two women gets a pass? Crazy indeed. The passage of Sodom and Gomorrah has absolutely nothing to do with same sex committed relationships. The real moral of that story and the reason why the cities were destroyed was one of a selfish, inhospitable peoples and be being so judged by God. 

        If you move on with Lot later on, you see his two daughters get their old dad drunk to have sex and conceive by him. How is that not noted more frequently by these puritanical religious zealots?  Why didn't that become an admonition against sexual relations between men and women? 

      The Bible it seems to have a fair amount of sex, sexual relations, misrepresentations and mis-translations. What is someone to do? What is one to believe? First, scholarship is a must, but even trusted sources must be questioned and verified. Most of all, the real key is God's love. The love that Jesus preached is clear in the loving concern of that Roman Centurion. Love should always be our arbiter when faced with a questionable passage. Of course honesty and scholarship is also very important but love, truly is the answer.

      

Which side are you on anyway?

Exodus 32:21-34

       God did not gives us hearts of hate and minds of ignorance. We are to love as Jesus, and the prophets of many religions have called us to do. God gave us brains and intelligence so that we could not so easy get away with exercising our faith by mindless strict obedience to ten commandments. Our brains must be used and exercised in seeing how those ten commandments are lived by His two Great Commandments.  No, we are not meant to be people of ignorance.

         When people of good 'faith' disagree on who is saved and who is going to hell; when people of good 'faith' condemn others based on spurious translations of cherry picked passages, we cannot sit idly by. We are in fact called to educate, love and correct bad behavour.  So what is the difference in the 'sides'  that are currently so vehemently engaged?  Is one 'side' as bad as the other?  

        I ask myself, which 'side' can come up with real facts and data, intelligent, factual and literate translations of scripture to back up their position?  When we see ignorant religious zealots like the Westboro Baptist Church, we are called to fight back. Not in the same evil ways they do but in assertive, educated retaliation and love. That last one is the clincher.

        I've note occasional 'infomercials' on Facebook that note 'if your religion calls you to hate, despise or be  unloving to anyone, it really isn't a true religion'. God is not of evil. God is of love. God always calls us to love. Our brains are not be used to come up with circular logic to justify hate or unloving positions towards others.

        If our positions are based on hearsay, fake facts and innuendo, we have to judge by the use of our God given brains and hearts of love: that position is wrong. 

Moses said to Aaron, ‘What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?’ And Aaron said, ‘Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are bent on evil. They said to me, “Make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So I said to them, “Whoever has gold, take it off ”; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!’

When Moses saw that the people were running wild (for Aaron had let them run wild, to the derision of their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, ‘Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me!’ And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. He said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Put your sword on your side, each of you! Go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill your brother, your friend, and your neighbour.” ’ The sons of Levi did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand of the people fell on that day. Moses said, ‘Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of a son or a brother, and so have brought a blessing on yourselves this day.’

On the next day Moses said to the people, ‘You have sinned a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.’ So Moses returned to the Lord and said, ‘Alas, this people has sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will only forgive their sin—but if not, blot me out of the book that you have written.’ But the Lord said to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; see, my angel shall go in front of you. Nevertheless, when the day comes for punishment, I will punish them for their sin.’

The appreciation factor

     I have been following along, reading, soaking in and thinking about some recent writings by Richard Rohr on sexuality. It's been very enlightening and blessed which might seem odd. Truthfully though, I too see our sexuality as a holy thing, something to be reverenced and revelled in. And so I found myself again this week, appreciating again, a love of sorts with yet another person.  Not in the sense of my husband, whom I fall deeper in love with with each passing day but seeing and feeling the essence of another and feeling a kinship, a strong attraction and bond.  I can't begin to say how often this has happened in my life.  It has had no bearing on whether someone is male or female though I suppose it is more often men whom I connect with on this level.  Merton, Boswell, Nouwen, Day, many more  and now Toyohiko Kagawa. Toyohiko was a Japanese man who is highlighted as a 'holy person' in today's Liturgy of the Hours in the Episcopal Church. What a magnificent, beautiful, holy soul. I feel honored to merely read about him and his life journey.

      The question I am asking myself is how does one come to be humbled, aware and  open to seeing the beauty in people?  Do other people have the similar feelings? An attraction of souls? An appreciation of a life lived well, vibrantly and lovingly. How can I be present enough in my day to day interactions that I can perhaps catch a glimpse of the beauty of the loving and living souls all around me? How do I keep my eyes open?

         To see someone that is holy and focused, who is the living essence of Jesus renewed and alive in our world is a very special gift.

Unimagineable

Acts 4:5-12

     If you had asked me as a youth what my life would be like at 60 years old, I would never, ever, in a million years have been able to conjure up the reality of what today is. I am not talking about i-phones or electric cars, the incredible options for travel, the variety of restaurants I frequent, Alexa or any material things. I am speaking of real happiness and the fact that I am gay. My life is full, joyous, honest and truly blessed.  Nothing at all of what I might have envisioned.

     On one of my volunteer trips to the Dominican Republic, I had a totally unexpected experience. Well, honestly, I always had unexpected experiences but one stands out at the moment.  On our return from our base in the mountains nears the Haitian border, one of our group got violently ill.  Our compatriot let out what I describe as a 'Vulcan death scream' and then devolved into seizures and total unconsciousness. It was scary as hell.  We arrived in the capital at a friendly house who directed us to the nearest hospital. We all quickly determined that I would stay with our sick friend even though I spoke no Spanish, every one else had to return to the USA. I at least had hospital experience and could be the advocate if only in urging tones and makeshift sign language.  ( That was hysterical I am sure ). The point is, I agreed to stay and help until such time he had recovered at least to the point he'd be allowed to travel and be re-admitted to the United States. I guess they are picky about violently ill people being brought into the country - even if it's a citizen.   That stay was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. Unplanned and totally optional, I signed on. What a gift to me in so many ways. Of course my buddy was a bit grateful as well to me, to so many other staff members and friends and of course, God. An unexpected experience all around.

       As I read today in Acts about the rejected cornerstone, I have no allusions that I am the rejected or that I am even the cornerstone. It does however remind me of how often the most wonderful things in our lives are things that are not planned. Most of life is unseen. We cannot see who we will meet around the next corner, what events will unfold to shape us, challenge us or reward us. It is all mystery. I will repeat often the mantra of my blessed mother-in-law that "man plans, God laughs". It is so very true. I planned a good Catholic life, married a wonderful woman and was blessed with 2 wonderful children. I planned and toiled but also 'went along' with what God placed before me.  Now I am a good Episcopalian boy married to a nice Jewish boy, still with 2 ( adult ) kids and we are blessed with 3 grand kids. We are a Grandpa and Zaide. Never, ever, could I have imagined.  

         One of the tricks of life is to put yourself out there, listen to God's voice ( she does amazing things!  ! ), and hang on for the joys that will fall out in place before us.  That trick is putting yourself out there, listening and cooperating.  You may find the cornerstone of your life is nothing like what you planned, envisioned or thought possible.

The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem,with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisonersstand in their midst, they inquired, ‘By what power or by what name did you do this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is
“the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
   it has become the cornerstone.” 
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’

Epiphany point

We are clearly not very at home in our bodies, yet Jesus came to show us that we can and must trust our human, and thus body-based, experience. The material world is the privileged place for the divine encounter.

       Many years ago I attended a retreat in the Canadian Rockies with an old friend. I was overwhelmed by the vastness and enormity of nature around me. It seemed to me like I was sinking, being immersed in something that was all around me, so encompassing that I was becoming one with nature. The expression "remember man that you are dust and unto dust you shall return" had taken on a new meaning. 

        We tend to get locked into our daily lives and the physicality we try to create. It seems almost like an insult to God that we sometimes are more interested in what we have created and what we want to create than to appreciate what we are and what God has created around us.  On a brisk morning in August in the middle of a glacial valley, I shed all remnants of my daily life and existed in the sensuality and physicality of my singular being, at one with nature. There seemed no barrier between the dirt and rocks that pressed against my flesh as I sat.  I could feel the movement and rawness of nature because it was exactly the same in me. 

         The vastness and intricacies of nature are ever present in us. We come from the same source. We feel the same ebbs and flows in our souls and in our bodies. And so it was on another bright glacial afternoon on that same retreat that I stood as a pebble at the foot of an enormous, yet receding, glacier, towering over me and around me. Even in its retreat it advanced. Roads had been created for tourists to access this glacier and each and every road swallowed as the mass relentlessly advanced. There would be no stopping the very nature of this ice field until it alone yielded it's own nature and died. This was the first time I think that I came to the realization, a mere thought, that if I was gay, there would be no stopping what God had created. No measure of tortured denials or rationalizations could deny the essence of who I was. I felt it. I was scared. The worldly self of me came face to face with the being at one and consumed by the awesome world God had created that surrounded me. Indeed, I could feel the world within me. 

       I could see Jesus going out into the desert. I understand not only the merit but the imperative to go out into nature to 'hear' God calling us. As humans, animals, we are one with all of nature no matter how hard we try to deny or disguise it.  Our answers do not come from without with things and adornments, our answers come from within. 

        I returned to that glacier. The ice field advances to this day.  The place I had stood years ago was now hundreds of feet below the glacier. My previous epiphany point now yielded to the knowledge that I am a gay man. In all that it entails a major aspect of my being broke forth and emerged as a force of my nature that can no more denied than the force of that glacier. Powerful. Beautiful. Sensual. Godly. Mere words to try and capture the essence of what God has created in the world and in me and you. 

            Enter the desert or mountains to help be one with your essence, your being, your own undeniable nature and undeniable truths. 

Slaves no more

Colossians 2:8-10

     If the Ten Commandments had been delivered today I could easily see one more added that would reflect something about slavery. "Thou shall not keep slaves among you". Like the others it is very legalistic. One could argue what "among you" means and find a way around it. A rationalization if you will like we can employ with the original ten. There is that one about "thou shall not kill", not taking some one's life and yet we know it is just as easy to kill a persons spirit by demeaning them, bad mouthing them or cursing them. To me those two scenarios are just as equal. 

      As if Jesus recognized the inherent evil of slavery, he hastens to add caveats about slavery in today's passage from Colossians and a caveat that we need to recall today.  Do not let other things besides physical slavery keep you captive. Philosophies, deceit, traditions, thoughts. Things of this world can easily keep one captive. The idea of your possessions owning you is really an excellent example. But we are more than physical beings so even spiritual things can keep us captive. Do you ruminate over things during the day - perhaps all day?  We hate ear worms and I will resist planting one in you by mentioning a specific song, but we know how that can keep us captive.

        This passage seems so telling to me. It is our faith moving forward by the Spirit.  Slavery was a well accepted practice at the time. This sadly continued into the times of the America's and even today in many parts of the world. Astoundingly in-humane. And here we have the Spirit moving the newly faithful, the young Christian community being challenged by a new broader anti-slavery message given here in Colossians.

        I am not sure how much our thoughts and prayers should be confined or refined. Let us all commit to the fact that God created us all equal in love, respect and dignity and that any form of slavery we can conjure is totally and irrevocably against God.

     

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.

The wisdom of hindsight

Exodus 20:1-21

     I think we all have a recollection of a parental guide telling us at one point or another that we should not do something. The question of why not was often answered with the age old response "because I said so!" In hindsight we can only imagine what might have happened to us if we had actually done what we were asking about. If this were Facebook I could start a thread wherein everyone reports their intended action and how, thankfully, they were thwarted by someone older and wiser.

     Jesus was like a wiser adult. I imagine him saying to his followers, look Moses gave you those laws and they were good as far as they went but you are now old enough and mature enough ( as a people ) to understand that the real commandments can be synthesized down into these two great commandments. 'Not as legalistic as you once needed, certainly harder to follow but you are intelligent enough to understand.' In the end, as Jesus died and rose, Jesus promised that the Spirit would come and give us even more knowledge and wisdom.  Perhaps we would one day learn that the earth was not in fact made in seven days. Perhaps we would discover that the world is actually a round orb and that indeed, everything does not revolve around it. Rather, everything here at least, revolves around our sun.  It in no way diminishes the authorship of creation. In fact, I'd argue that the more we know, we discover the volumes we don't know and God is even more awesome. God is a bigger mystery than we could have imagined. 

      Today's passage is to me, clear evidence of the human hand being guided by the truth that God wishes to convey in terms that could be comprehended at a given time.  The Spirit moves us right along as we grow and hopefully mature.  But these humans that wrote down God's message were quite fallible. They inserted their very own wishes along with God's. Was it Jesus that gave us the maxim that 'the law is made for man, not man for the law'. Man wrote down what was perceived as God message (eg. God created the world ) but inserted sometimes selfish and human rules to guide that message. Perhaps to highlight the importance of the message but perhaps also to control the masses. That idea about the sabbath is a great idea seven days a week, not just one. The world was not in fact created in six days. God did not 'rest' on day # 7. These are all human constructs of a divine message. It all becomes quite obvious in hindsight.

      God did not create us to be ignorant. The word became flesh to show us ( amongst other things ) how our humanity is a gift to be embraced. Sexuality. Intelligence. Passion. Love.  All great things that will help us in our journey to wholeness as humans. The Spirit is hopefully, prayerfully the guide to move us along so that we do not stagnate at the notion that suspension bridges are of the devil or that the world is flat. We are to use our brains as God created us.  We have the capacity to love and the capacity to learn and grow. That seems the essence of who we are. Great wisdom is looking back and seeing the truth of where we are and to catch a glimpse of where we are going. Always in love.

   

Then God spoke all these words:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation^*of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lordblessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.^*

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.’ Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Beloved

Matthew 3:13-17

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’

       Perhaps you have wondered where I got the name for this blog, Beloved Gay Disciple. There are two reasons in my mind, one of which is the mere possibility that Jesus had a disciple whom he loved, and I mean L-O-V-E , loved. Of course that is up for interpretation. The part B of that is of course that I am gay. gay. Gay! for sure and I consider myself a disciple as well. They are not mutually exclusive as some would have you believe. There are several books and some really legitimate and scholarly texts on the subject of the disciple "whom Jesus loved." ( John 13:23 )  Depending on one's specific beliefs this may also be the stuff of heresy and excommunication.

       The second reason I chose this title is that 'beloved' part.  In today's passage the voice from heaven announces that 'This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.' We all know what that means. We all have the experience of someone we love and hold them as 'beloved'. It is not a light comment or feeling. This is heartfelt, the stuff poems are made of and honest professions of 'I'd die for you'. So the title here is not just to point out how God feels about His son, Jesus. It is my hope that this blog will convey that God feels that each and every one of us is His beloved as well.

     The feeling of having and being beloved is not a foreign feeling. We need to know that about ourselves and we need to know that God feels that way about everyone else. If this fosters appreciation, respect and more love, I will be very happy.

     

'Sadd' shoes

Matthew 3:7-12

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with^* the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

     I feel like I am wearing the shoes of the Pharisees and Sadducees today. I mean, they were not evil people were they?  Did they intentionally lie, live bad lives? Did they not take comfort in the fact that God loved them even if that concept was perhaps a bit different than mine and even though they only believed it pertained to them?

     I am not such a bad person myself. How about you? I profess to be committed to the Lord. I try to live a life that shows peace and love to all. The truth is though I am a bit lazy, perhaps complacent. I would be happy if life just rolled along and that is especially true when I have no 9 to 5 job to attend to. Yes, complacent seems a good word. Were those people that I have often referred to as the religious elite any different than me?  I am quite content  to let all the business and plans fall to others and I will 'acquiesce' and follow along. I have exerted no energy and made no real effort to communicate a plan I see or wish to partake in. Perhaps I am the one that is part of that 'brood of vipers'. Who am I to presume I have I have Jesus and that it requires little action on my part. Am I not the one who had said "inaction is in fact action"? The passive aggressive nature of some people annoyed me to no end. Perhaps I am the one who needs to look in a mirror and repent.

     I am not called to be a spectator. I am called to be an active participant. That means communication, action and love. All three. We are all brothers and sisters and this perhaps is most important with ones with whom we share the most intimate details of our lives. Moving forward, how will I ( or you ) repent?

Holy lives

Matthew 1:1-17, 3:1-6

     Fell free to Google Mary ( Molly ) Brant, a Mohawk woman who was baptized and raised in the Anglican tradition. Fascinating woman. It dovetailed into today's passage about the lineage of Jesus, his genealogy. I myself can trace the lineage of one side of my family to the year 1400 in England. It is nice to know one's roots. What's more important however is who we are and how we act now.

     As we know, our family is everyone. We are not isolated islands. With the advent of ancestry.com and '23 and me', we are finding out more factual data on where we come from and that we have more in common sometimes than we ever realized.  There is always overlap and interplay among people. 

     One of the things I absolutely love about my Episcopal / Anglican faith is the highlighting of holy people along with the daily office readings. These are all saints even though they might not pass official muster in the Roman church. They are holy people one and all, people of our past ( even recent past ), people of faith and guides to how to live a life of faith. It is important to know that no matter our lineage it is our own actions of faith and love that are terribly important. These holy people did not necessarily do anything so great as to respond to a call and live a life of faith. They witnessed by their lives and we need to know that it made a difference and it still makes a difference. It makes all the difference in the world. No matter what our circumstances in life, our heritage, our position in society or lack thereof, our wealth, our health, our poverty or maladies, we are called to live our faith vibrantly in whatever our situation is, in whatever times we live. These holy people as well as the 'official' saints are people who did just that. They are our examples, our rooting sections and our true lineage.

     When we discover our roots and look back, be sure to know the basis of our faith and the holy lives that are all around us.

     

Brothers and sisters all are we

John 3:1-3

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

     Good morning child of God !  How does it feel to say that ? Better still, it is quite astounding to know it deep in your soul, in every fiber of your being. 

      I was watching remake of Lost in Space last night, the first episode anyway.  In last night's story a young Will Robinson returns to his family with the new version of the robot to save the family. One person to save the family. So many of our hero stories whether Biblical or from Hollywood are about someone who saves. Very often it is an ordinary person, a Clark Kent or a Peter Parker.

      Jesus came to earth as an ordinary human to save us all. Of course more than a superhero, Jesus came to save his family, all of us. What's more he wants us to know that we are family. All of us. Jesus has done everything he can in word and works to the point of dying on a cross is to save us all. By his inclusion to all the 'worst' of society, the sinners, the outcasts, lepers, warriors, chattel, He has shown we are all one family. He spoke so often to the least likely and I recall the parable of the Prodigal Son. Not only are we all children of God, brothers and sisters one and all, but we are always welcome in God's house.  Even as a sinner we are welcome, no matter who we are. Jesus lived and died so that we would know what inheritance we have in store.

        The crux of all this though is that we are ALL welcome. We are all brothers and sisters. Even in a dysfunctional family ( which I certainly think we all are sometimes ), we are all still and irrevocably family. Think about that.  Lastly, know that when we disown our family we are turning our backs on God and the great gift we are all supposed to share in. 

Oh, shit!

1 Peter 4:7-19

     I hope there isn’t anyone that is sitting at home today wishing or thankful that we are bombing other human beings for whatever justified reason. Everything can come crashing down in an instant and we could all die quickly in a whimper as so many did in Syria, both this week and last. The very same could be true of us. Whether factual or the product of Putin's wishful thinking, I recently saw a copy of a plan that included many nuclear targets throughout Florida. If such a scenario unfolded there would be little time for anything save an ejaculatory prayer, even if would simply be "oh shit!" If I have the presence of mind I hope I'd utter "Lord, have mercy on my soul" or Lord, forgive them for they know not what they do". And then we'd all be gone.

      Of course the same is true in life at any time. The recent passing of my mother-in-law proves just how fragile life is and how quickly it can evaporate. No notice, here one minute loving, laughing, particpating vibrantly in life, then fighting a quickly lost battle for life the next.

     If today’s passage offers us any practical advice or direction it is to take nothing for granted and to live a life of love and faith without wasting time. This admonishment comes at such a timely juncture. This reading was not randomly picked , it is one of today's scheduled passages in the lectionary. We can become so terribly complacent and take so much of life for granted. We might even say, nah, let's see what's on the blog tomorrow, maybe that will be more relevant, less challenging or more entertaining. I am not guaranteed by some contract that I will be able to write tomorrow and you may not even be here. We may not be here.

       So the admonition is to take life and love seriously and act out of love NOW. 

     

     

1 Peter 4:7-19

      The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory,^* which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief-maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. For the time has come for judgement to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And
‘If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
   what will become of the ungodly and the sinners?’ 
Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.

Conscience, the Spirit and love.

John 16:1-15

‘I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them.

‘I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

     Get out, and don't let the door hit you in the ass!  There is an entire and not so glorious history in churches of not accepting truth. There is a hesitancy to move forward. Perhaps it is intended as a test of sorts to judge what is truly a revelation of the Spirit and what is an erring strain of thought. Still, it may also be as simple as trying to maintain the status quo of a male dominated euro-centric church. For whatever reason churches do not always ( do not often ? ) embrace change. Two things are certain though. The Spirit is alive and vibrantly so with revelation for us. Secondly, one of the 'constants' of existence is change and growth. If we do not grow we wind up stagnating and death follows.

    If we look historically at some of the things that the the Roman church alone has railed against we see the tendency to hold back.  I recall reading an incredibly large text called the History of the Catholic church. I was saddened by some events but placated myself that the events were in unenlightened times. For example, Galileo. But how long did the church hold onto the notion of a earth centered existence? Perhaps what is even sadder still are those today that belong to the flat earth society. Yikes.  But I digress. I had a bit more difficulty when I came to Papal condemnation of  suspension bridges. Yup, you read that correctly.  And then there is the idea floated that indigenous peoples and people of colour did not have souls. In the realm of theology, how long was it before the abolition of Limbo? Examples abound in every religion.

      This is not a tome against the Roman church. It speaks of perhaps a universal tendency, a dislike of change and perhaps more, an unwillingness to relinquish power. It is a very good thing then that in the many churches, primacy is given to conscience.  As the Spirit does not exclusively reveal knowledge to the church alone, we can often find ourselves as conduits of spiritual revelation.

       The faithful, of which you and I are members, are often ahead of the curve. And here is the rub, it may come to a point where we are called to leave 'the church' , whatever that is for us. We may be excised from the faithful because we do not believe the status quo. That does not mean we are wrong. It certainly does not mean 'the church' is right.

       I am a believer that revelation and God's revealed world is enough to ascertain the movements of the Spirit and see evidence of God's love and existence.  No formal treatises are required. No great moralizing or logic is required. Certainly, we cannot use twisted logic and mental gymnastics to support what is patently false and obvious to the faithful. There is a term for that and it is Sensum fidelium.

        After all this, what is our message?  It is the joking mantra of the Episcopal church.  'The good thing about the Episcopal church is that you will find at least one person who believes what you believe'.  We have freedom to think and exercise our conscience. But most importantly, whatever we believe, whatever the Spirit reveals to us, honor it and love yourself and all of God's creations. In fact, in making your own judgments about what is true and real and of the Spirit, let the love of God be the arbiter.